The City of Nelson says the Civic Centre's arena opening is being delayed to mid-December due to ongoing renovations at the 88-year-old building.
The Civic Centre, which is home to several tenants including the Civic Theatre and Glacier Gymnastics, was shut down in May after the city found the building's wooden roof trusses didn't meet minimum standards for snow load. That led to the Civic's brief evacuation following heavy snowfall in January.
The work was not thought to impact the arena, but in a statement released Sept. 11 the city said related seismic work is needed on a wall shared by the centre and attached arena.
Work began in June and is now expected to be complete by January.
“The City of Nelson recognizes the impact this project has on the organizations that rely on the Civic Centre and arena to provide programming for the community,” said Mayor Janice Morrison in a statement. “The city is working hard to get all user groups back into their spaces, but public and worker safety remain our No. 1 priority. We will be communicating closely with the Regional District of Central Kootenay as we progress to ensure ice user groups are notified when the building will be available.”
The Civic's arena, which the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) manages, is used during winter months by the Nelson Minor Hockey Association. The association's president Kelly Everett told the Nelson Star that teams were supposed to start using the arena's ice in mid-October.
Everett described the announcement as a shock and said she hasn't yet spoken to either the RDCK or her board about what the loss of ice time will mean for Nelson's teams.
"We had no warning of this at all. It is going to be a big impact for us, because our numbers have increased."
Ice time is a premium in Nelson, even in a city with two rinks. The adjacent Nelson and District Community Complex rink is used by minor hockey teams, the Nelson Leafs, and other skating clubs.
In the city's statement, RDCK general manager of community services Joe Chirico said user groups will be contacted to work out ice times.
“As an organization that also takes on large scale projects, we understand that these types of unforeseen delays can occur,” said Chirico. “RDCK staff will do everything we can to help mitigate the impact that this delay will have on ice user groups. We will be working closely with the user groups affected to support the rescheduling of ice time until the Civic Arena is operational.”
